These Honored Dead

Series: The Lincoln and Speed Mysteries, Book 1

By: Jonathan F. Putnam / Narrated By: Lloyd James

Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins

History come to life. With just a smidgen of sex and mayhem thrown in!

What better way to celebrate Presidents Day than with an imaginative work of fiction whereby a young lawyer by the name of Abraham Lincoln comes to the rescue (I haaaaaad been kicking around the idea of listening to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and I baaaarely passed on it, so maybe next year)? Based on the real life friendship between Lincoln and Joshua Speed, These Honored Dead serves as a little history lesson cleverly disguised as a witty, mildly-plotted mystery chockfull of honorable and less than honorable characters, and life in Springfield in the 1800s, life on the Frontier.

When an orphaned girl is found dead with a Bowie knife sticking out of her throat, suspicion falls upon the girl’s aunt, Rebecca. She’s a widowed store owner who just happens to be a secret ex-lover of Speed, and he’d do anything in his power to clear her name. When her young nephew is found dead with a bashed in skull, things just go from bad to worse for everyone.

There’s sex, there’s murder, there’s stuff about how slavery and slaves were viewed in Illinois. And yes, there’s even a bit about young Lincoln. There’s not as much as I would’ve liked, for the man is interesting as all get-out, but author Jonathan F. Putnam does a really masterful job with conveying the gravity of the man, yes, but also of the man’s more whimsical and humorous side as well. He really makes a great character, worthy of being in a novel, does he not?

What I found most impressive about the book was how it showed that even the honorable Speed and his sister owned slaves and how, tho’ they think they’re the kindest of masters, it really takes them some time to view their slave Phyllis, a woman brought to Springfield to help as a midwife for a friend, as someone who might have strong love, strong family ties. That her greatest joy and contentment might NOT be in serving her mistress conscientiously but might be in loving her own family. And it says a great deal that she’d rather go back to the plantation to care for her granddaughter than to stay in Springfield where there’s greater liberality for slaves. It takes them a while to grasp this.

Okay, that aside, this book isn’t about slavery at all, tho’ it does introduce Lincoln’s great interest in and great desire to promote civil rights for all (And by the way? The Author’s Note at the end has historical notes that show Phyllis and, tho’ family ties weren’t stated, her granddaughter as being real people owned by the Speed family).

All in all, a fine little book with a dash of mystery and a good helping of history. I’m not the biggest aficionado of mysteries as I never try to solve a case as the story progresses, but I do sooo love historical figures being brought to life in such an imaginative way.

Lloyd James does a fine job with the narration, capturing the twang of folks on the Frontier, and he deftly captures the lilt and cadence of author Putnam’s use of 19th century language. I have a few other audiobooks narrated by him and after this, I’m feeling quite relieved to know that once I get to them, the narration will NOT be off-putting but will be handled with a gentle ease.

I did so like this audiobook, but now I’m all confused as to my next move. I mean, shall I wait until next year for Lincoln’s Birthday or the following Presidents Day to get to Book 2 in the series?

Or shall I be all: I Flunked The Marshmallow Test and dive riiiiight into it next. freaking. week…?

Seriously, it was a fun book, and I can’t wait to see how Lawyer Lincoln comes to Speed’s aid with his amazing and affable lawyerly skills!